WINGS WEAPONS AND FOUR WHEEL DRIVE

Close finishes

Talking over lunch recently, Bill Gavin highlighted what was always taken for granted when discussing Bruce McLaren: “such a careful driver”.

I was thinking about that as I thumbed through a recently acquired copy of Motor Racing Year that covers the 1969 international season. It was a strange season in a lot of ways. Grid numbers were light, Ferrari typically ran a single car, and four-wheel drive made a fleeting visit to the Grand Prix (GP) paddock. With a change of fuel-cell regulations due to be enforced in 1970, most teams ran upgraded versions of their 1968 cars: the year wings that were introduced. Terms like ‘downforce’ were still in the early stages of discovery. At the 1969 Spanish GP, the tall wings on both Team Lotus cars broke and, in a flash, were banned from the following race around the streets of Monaco.

An exception to the ‘upgraded ’68 car’ option came from an organization for which motor racing was an ‘add on’ activity to its core business: the manufacture of missiles, arms, and aerospace technology. ‘Mécanique Aviation Traction’ was eventually abbreviated to ‘Matra’, and, very soon after being established in the early 1960s, it emphasized